


Hold On

by torigates



Category: Bones (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-11
Updated: 2013-11-11
Packaged: 2018-01-01 03:41:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1039928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torigates/pseuds/torigates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The flight back from China is long.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hold On

The flight back from China is long.

Brennan slept. More accurately, she tried to sleep. Booth tossed and turned. Sighed and huffed, till eventually Brennan just could not ignore him anymore.

“What’s wrong with you?” she asked.

Booth turned so they were facing each other across the aisle. “I can’t sleep.”

“I noticed,” Brennan said.

They were both quiet for a moment. “You know, Bones, that’s generally where you’d ask me why.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. If you wanted me to know why you’re having trouble sleeping you would tell me.”

“All right,” Booth said. “I was nice to that kid.” He gestured back towards Eli.

Brennan looked, and Eli was fast asleep. “So?” she asked.

“So, he killed someone.”

“You’ve killed before,” she pointed out. Booth’s face changed, and Brennan wasn’t quite sure what that meant. “His mother is sick,” she said.

Booth sighed. “I know,” he said. “He’s just a kid.”

Brennan didn’t say anything.

Booth turned onto his back. “You could tell me, you know,” he said.

“Tell you what?”

Booth looked uncomfortable. “If you didn’t want to work together anymore. I don’t want to take you away from what you love, Bones.”

Brennan paused. “No, that’s not what I meant, Booth.” He continued to look at her. “Yes, sometimes I wish I had more time to do this kind of anthropological work, but that doesn’t mean I want to stop working together. There are things you wish you had more time for, right?”

Booth didn’t reply right away. Brennan wished she was better at reading people. They had been working together for four years, and sometimes Booth was as strange to her now as when they first met.

Four years was a long time.

It was true what she said earlier. She had forced Booth to take her out of the lab. In fact, she remembered blackmail being involved. Her life had drastically changed since she became partners with Booth, but Brennan was sure she wouldn’t change things, given the chance.

Booth was her anchor, without him Brennan would be lost in a sea of pure science.

Since Zack, Brennan didn’t like to let herself think in science alone. It was a hard lesson to learn.

Brennan turned her head and saw that Booth was still looking at her. “I don’t regret it,” she told him.

“Really?” he asked.

“Of course not, Booth. How could you think that I would regret us being partners?”

Booth stared at her for a long time. Brennan wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but whatever he saw on her face must have satisfied him. He looked out the window for a moment and then back at her. “Even when I’m jumping to conclusions and positing scenarios based on nothing more than conjecture?” he asked with a smile on his face.

“Maybe not then,” she allowed.

“But that’s what you have the other squints for. Me, I’m the human side of the operation,” Booth said with a smirk.

“Hey!” Brennan exclaimed. “What could be more human than our bones? What you do is basically guess work.”

Booth sat up. “So now you’re saying you don’t really need me, after all.”

“Not at all,” Brennan said. “I merely pointed out that my job description requires me to have a PhD, while yours does not.”

Booth laughed. “Fair enough,” he said, lying down. Brennan saw him glance back at Eli.

“He’s a scared kid, who made a horrible mistake, Booth. He’s going to need all the kindness he can get.”

“I know that, Bones. I do. I just don’t like feeling played.”

“The important thing is that we solved the murder,” she told him.

“ _You_ solved it, Bones.”

“That’s not true, Booth. We did it together.”

Booth was quiet for a moment. “I’m sorry you had to miss looking at old Chinese dead guys,” he said.

Brennan paused. “I’m not. This is more important.”

Booth smiled.

They were quiet for a long time. Brennan listened to Booth’s breathing next to her. Steady. “Are you going to be alright?” she asked quietly.

Booth smiled, but didn’t open his eyes or turn his head. “Yeah. I think so, Bones.”

With his eyes still closed, Booth reached across the aisle, trusting that she was there.

Brennan took his hand and held on. 


End file.
